1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the control of hybrid electric vehicles and more particularly to processes, apparatus, media and signals for controlling operating conditions of a hybrid electric vehicle to optimize operating characteristics thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally all hybrid electric vehicles have energy management controllers that control the supply and use of electrical energy in the vehicle. Such controllers normally provide signals to control the speed of a prime mover of the vehicle and to control the amount of energy demanded from a generator driven by the prime mover.
The production of these signals however, tends to be based on instant energy demands on the electrical system of the vehicle. Thus, when a certain supply of electrical energy is required, demand on the generator is increased while the current speed of the prime mover is usually held constant. This can result in inefficient operation of the vehicle, because at certain speeds, a vehicle may emit more pollutants, be less comfortable to drive and may have high fuel consumption, for example. In other words, the operating characteristics of the vehicle may not be optimized. The present invention addresses this problem.